FASHION + BEAUTY
MICROBLADING:
AN APPOINTMENT WITH the Queen of brows
EYEBROWS ARE HAVING MORE THAN A MOMENT. THE VERY OPPOSITE OF THE GREAT PLUCKING DISASTER( GPD) OF THE 90S, WHERE WOMEN ALL OVER THE WORLD PLUCKED THEIR POOR EYEBROWS TO WITHIN AN INCH OF THEIR LIVES, IT’ S NOW VERY MUCH EN VOGUE TO HAVE A THICKER, FULLER BROW IN KEEPING WITH WHAT SUITS YOUR FACE. VICTIMS OF THE GPD THAT NOW PAINSTAKINGLY DRAW EYEBROWS ON EACH MORNING SHOULD NOT DISMAY, HOWEVER, BECAUSE HELP IS AT HAND IN THE FORM OF MICROBLADING – A SEMI-PERMANENT, REPLENISHING BROW TREATMENT. POLLY HUMPHRIS MET KAREN BETTS, THE UNDISPUTED QUEEN OF BROWS, AND UNDERWENT THE TREATMENT TO FIND OUT MORE.
I’ d heard about microblading before my appointment with Karen – how could I not? It took America by storm last year and had travelled across the pond by summer 2017 achieving instant infamy among the beauty set. A semi-permanent brow treatment carried out using a small scalpel-like pen( a micro blade) that’ s used to draw on individual strokes that mimic real brow hairs to create an incredibly natural-looking finish, it’ s wizardry at replenishing sparse or lacklustre eyebrows achieves phenomenal results, finally moving brows away from the overdrawn, too-dark‘ reality TV’ look and into the much classier sphere where they belong.
The minute I was introduced to Karen, I knew I was in the most capable of hands. An extremely warm woman, she is also the consummate professional. One of the UK’ s, if not the world’ s most esteemed permanent cosmetics and microblading artists and one of the earliest pioneers in the highlyspecialised art of paramedical tattooing, Karen began training and supplying like-minded professionals in the art of permanent
Before
cosmetics( under the Nouveau Contour brand) in the late 90s. Today, Karen runs a beauty empire that includes High Definition, the award-winning beauty brand previously known as HD Brows and the award-winning eyelash extensions specialist Nouveau Lashes – the pioneer of the LVL Lash Lift. Karen’ s latest venture- K. B Pro is a new permanent cosmetics and microblading brand that’ s already rewriting the standards.
Fortunately, I wasn’ t one of those teenagers in the 90s that plucked their eyebrows into
After
obscurity, so I had reasonably thick brows before my visit, but had always secretly coveted Keira Knightley’ s low arch and soft, but bold angle. Having had my anesthetic applied over a cup of tea in the waiting area at Karen’ s clinic – No. 1 Harley St, a heavenly, high-ceilinged space as resplendent as its address suggests – no sooner was I greeted by Karen with a beaming smile than she had her plan in place. The whole procedure is very simple: Karen measures your existing brows for symmetry, draws a very feint template which you then approve, discusses the right
99